200,794 people (2024 Census estimate, +0.4% since 2020)
6,248 square miles of land · 32 people per square mile
“Highest” and “lowest” are just order, not grades: a high rank for poverty or hazard losses means more of it. Each figure's source is in its section below.
30 active community water systems list St. Louis County in the area they serve, reporting 151,522 people served in all (a system that crosses county lines counts its whole population).
| Duluth surface water · local government · MN1690011 | 86,859 served |
| Hibbing groundwater · local government · MN1690022 | 16,028 served |
| Virginia surface water · local government · MN1690046 | 8,361 served |
| Hermantown buys surface water · local government · MN1690043 | 7,215 served |
| Chisholm surface water · local government · MN1690007 | 4,940 served |
| Eveleth surface water · local government · MN1690018 | 3,770 served |
| Ely surface water · local government · MN1690014 | 3,258 served |
| Proctor buys surface water · local government · MN1690042 | 3,099 served |
Source: U.S. EPA Safe Drinking Water Information System (SDWIS), active community systems, . Look up any system's violations and test results with EPA's search using its ID.
About 95 people were held in St. Louis County's jail, in Vera's latest figure (2023), or 75 per 100,000 residents ages 15–64. In 2018 it was about 90.
Source: Vera Institute of Justice, Incarceration Trends (built from federal Bureau of Justice Statistics jail surveys). Counties without their own jail, or that share one, may show no figure.
13 school districts have their office in St. Louis County. School taxes are usually the largest part of a property tax bill.
Spent $179.5 million — $137.6 million to run schools, about $16,081 per student, plus $26.7 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $58 million local (mostly property tax), $95.4 million state, $24.8 million federal. Long-term debt: $176.1 million.
Spent $89.1 million — $38.5 million to run schools, about $16,000 per student, plus $41.9 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $17.4 million local (mostly property tax), $32.5 million state, $3.6 million federal. Long-term debt: $160.6 million.
Spent $30.3 million — $24.5 million to run schools, about $11,452 per student, plus $1.2 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $10.3 million local (mostly property tax), $20.1 million state, $2.1 million federal. Long-term debt: $80.6 million.
Spent $43.4 million — $35.9 million to run schools, about $16,909 per student, plus $4.8 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $8.9 million local (mostly property tax), $24.8 million state, $4.1 million federal. Long-term debt: $21.4 million.
Spent $43.9 million — $36.9 million to run schools, about $18,872 per student, plus $2.9 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $13.2 million local (mostly property tax), $25.7 million state, $4.4 million federal. Long-term debt: $64.2 million.
Spent $30.6 million — $26.4 million to run schools, about $13,888 per student, plus $1.5 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $8.9 million local (mostly property tax), $19.8 million state, $2.3 million federal. Long-term debt: $29.4 million.
Spent $16 million — $13.9 million to run schools, about $15,609 per student, plus $798,000 on buildings and equipment. Money in: $6.1 million local (mostly property tax), $10.1 million state, $1.2 million federal. Long-term debt: $22 million.
Spent $12.7 million — $9.7 million to run schools, about $14,145 per student, plus $2.4 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $3.6 million local (mostly property tax), $8.2 million state, $2.2 million federal. Long-term debt: $8.2 million.
And 5 more.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2023 Annual Survey of School System Finances. Districts are listed by the county of their main office; some serve neighboring counties too.
Source: County Health Rankings & Roadmaps 2025 (University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute), which gathers federal data (CDC, Census, and others); measures cover different recent years. Blank lines aren't reported for small counties.
Overall risk: Relatively Moderate compared with other U.S. counties. FEMA estimates natural hazards cost St. Louis County about $112.4 million a year on average in buildings, crops and lives. Ability to bounce back (community resilience): Very High; social vulnerability: Relatively Low.
Source: FEMA National Risk Index (December 2025), expected annual loss. Ratings compare counties nationwide; they're estimates, not predictions.
670 bridges in St. Louis County: 344 in good condition, 285 fair, and 41 poor (6.1%). “Poor” means a main part — the deck, the beams, or the supports — is rated 4 or lower on the federal 0–9 scale. It doesn't mean unsafe to drive; unsafe bridges are closed.
| I 535 over ST LOUIS R; RR STREET · built 1961 | 28,098 vehicles a day |
| I 35 over CN RR · built 2011 | 22,000 vehicles a day |
| US 169 over DM;IR RY · built 1961 | 12,432 vehicles a day |
| MN 135 over DM;IR RY · built 1970 | 6,000 vehicles a day |
| US 2 over MIDWAY RIVER · built 1958 | 5,600 vehicles a day |
| MSAS 135 over I 35 ACCES;RR STS; RR · built 1966 | 5,258 vehicles a day |
Source: Federal Highway Administration, National Bridge Inventory (2025 submission). Includes state, county and city bridges.
Federal grants paid for $161 million of work in St. Louis County in fiscal 2025, about $804 per resident — to the county, cities, schools, hospitals, nonprofits and others.
Source: USAspending.gov, grants by place of performance, fiscal 2025 (Oct. 2024 to Sept. 2025). Search it by county to see each award.
From Grants.gov: posted grants listing county governments as eligible, soonest deadline first; research-only and overseas programs left out; list updated 2026-10-13, refreshed weekly. 62 are open in all. Cities, towns, school districts and nonprofits have their own lists there.
Registration deadlines, early voting and polling places for Minnesota are on the federal site vote.gov, which links to the state's official election office.
The budget, property tax rates, audits, local officials and offices for St. Louis County come from the county's own records, which we haven't gathered — not gathered, never hidden. See what a full county site looks like, or ask to have St. Louis County built: brayden.ozark@gmail.com.
More of Minnesota: the state government and every county in Minnesota.
Nearby counties: Itasca County (51 mi) · Lake County (52 mi) · Carlton County (68 mi) · Koochiching County (75 mi) · Aitkin County (79 mi) · Douglas County, WI (82 mi).